Founders of the Norwegian EdTech company, Curipod, visited New Roots Charter, to learn more about American public education.
On Friday, November 18, New Roots Charter School hosted a visit from two Norwegian entrepreneurs from Curipod, a new EdTech software designed to empower student engagement and agency in the classroom.
Founder and CEO Jens Aarre Seip said, “we are building Curipod for teachers interested in facilitating classroom discussions and promoting 21st century skills, and believe the best way to do this is through collaboration with passionate teachers and educators.”
The focus of their visit to the United States is to learn more about American public education with a goal of learning how Curipod can help teachers actively engage all students. After visiting a variety of schools (15+) in New York City, they made a special trip to Ithaca to visit New Roots, the only charter school they visited.
Curipod founder Eirik Hernes Berre remarked, “Many schools have signs on the wall about 21st century skills and sustainability. At New Roots this is not only on the wall, but it is truly an integrated part of the teaching.”
While at New Roots, Jens and Eirik observed classrooms, met with teachers and administrators, and most importantly engaged students with their software. “Wow,” Seip said, “The students at New Roots blew us away with their passion and engagement. We had such an inspiring session with them, discussing both climate change and innovation.”
Many of the students who had an opportunity to meet and work with the Curipod founders were students who are participating in an Introduction to Entrepreneurship elective, based on the school’s youth entrepreneurship program, YEM. The program and the class are designed to inspire entrepreneurial thinking, design thinking, while cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset.
“We are grateful that our entrepreneurship students had an opportunity to experience Curipod’s empathy, prototype, and testing phases of their design thinking process first hand. This will help each of them as they continue designing their projects in the second quarter,” said Michael Mazza, the entrepreneurship teacher and cofounder of YEM.
Intrigued by the level of student engagement at New Roots, Seip and Barre noticed many similarities to the learning environment and philosophy of their home country Norway. Reflecting on the experience of working with students, Seip said, “How New Roots is preparing their students to be college ready – and also become leaders with 21st-century skills – is something we will bring with us back to Norway.”
New Roots Charter School is a tuition-free public charter school serving grades 9-12 that is open to any young person who is eligible to attend high school in New York State. Offering a private school education at a public school price, students prepare for lives of passion and purpose as they create and embrace new 21st century life opportunities through career and college preparation. Visit newrootsschool.org to learn more. To learn more about the Roots of Success program go to rootsofsuccess.org
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For more information, contact Michael Mazza, Director of Community Engagement at New Roots Charter School, at mmazza@newrootsschool.org.